"One of the reasons that datacenter operators have gravitated toward evaporative coolers is because they're so cheap to operate compared to alternative technologies.
"It is always of a higher coefficient of performance (COP), meaning less energy required, to evaporate water, regardless of what cooling medium is being utilized," Shelnutt said.
In fact, COP, which refers to the amount of heat removed for a given amount of power, for evaporative cooling comes in at 1,230 while dry coolers and chillers manage a COP of about 12 and 4, respectively, he explained.
In terms of energy consumption, this makes an evaporatively cooled datacenter far more energy efficient than one that doesn't consume water, and that translates to a lower operating cost.
The challenge is that not every location and climate is well suited to evaporative cooling. In hotter climates where water is either scarce or places with high humidity where evaporative coolers are ineffective, chillers, which function similar to your AC unit, may be used instead."
https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/04/how_datacenters_use_water/
#AI #DataCenters #Water #WaterScarcity #Energy
"It is always of a higher coefficient of performance (COP), meaning less energy required, to evaporate water, regardless of what cooling medium is being utilized," Shelnutt said.
In fact, COP, which refers to the amount of heat removed for a given amount of power, for evaporative cooling comes in at 1,230 while dry coolers and chillers manage a COP of about 12 and 4, respectively, he explained.
In terms of energy consumption, this makes an evaporatively cooled datacenter far more energy efficient than one that doesn't consume water, and that translates to a lower operating cost.
The challenge is that not every location and climate is well suited to evaporative cooling. In hotter climates where water is either scarce or places with high humidity where evaporative coolers are ineffective, chillers, which function similar to your AC unit, may be used instead."
https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/04/how_datacenters_use_water/
#AI #DataCenters #Water #WaterScarcity #Energy
